A creamy, cheesy pasta with a little salty cured pork. Easy and delicious.
- 8 oz dry pasta
- 5 oz guanciale (or pancetta)
- 1 oz parmesan reggiano
- 1-1/2 oz pecorino romano
- fresh cracked pepper
-
First thing you'll do is render the fat from the guanciale or pancetta in a large skillet or pot. While it's rendering, cook the pasta.
-
When the pasta is just al dente, drain, saving out 1 cup of the pasta water.
-
Put the pasta in the pot with the meat and rendered fat.
Toss it all together mixing it well.
-
Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water and the cheese, and stir vigorously! Keep stirring until the cheese and water meld together into a creamy sauce. Add a little more water if it's too dry. (See notes)
-
Serve hot with some fresh grated parmesan.
The stirring technique is the most important part of the pasta. If it isn't done right, you'll have clumps of melted cheese instead of a creamy sauce. Not quite as bad as clumps is tiny grated chunks that don't melt. The goal is a creamy sauce.
Cook the pasta in a large, tall pot. When it is slightly al dente (just slightly done), drain it, but be sure to save one cup of the pasta water. There is flavor and starch in it that will really help to create a creamy sauce.
Put the pasta back in the pot and let it cool slightly. Add 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water and stir briskly.
Add just a splash of cold water to finely grated (I ground it up in the food processor) romano and parmesan cheese with plenty of fresh cracked pepper. Stir it with a fork to make a paste.
Drop the paste on top of the pasta, then stir fast and hard for about 3 to 4 minutes. The harder and faster the better - almost like whisking with a spoon. Add a more pasta water, a little at a time, if the sauce is too thick.
© Copyright 2024 The Lazy Gastronome